15/09/18 Wildflowers

I got away early.  On the road by 8am, determined to see the bits I'd missed.
Rode to Mingenew (again) via the GPS, which did me no favours and took me via Dongara, the way I'd come to Geraldton.  Got there, asked a local how to get to Coalseam Reserve and Depot Hill Reserve.  He told me.  Got to Coalseam.
Great weather for riding, but glad I'm not carrying all my luggage today.  The reserves all are at the end of dirt/gravel roads of varying quality.  Some corrugated sections are pretty fierce.

I think cruising this country would be best done in a 4WD, or at least an all-wheel drive, or a car that takes rough roads well.  All the published wildflower routes take in a lot of unsealed roads.  They'd be almost impossible in an ordinary vehicle after a heavy rain.

Coalseam Reserve

All the reserves are just undisturbed native vegetation, except for Coalseam, where coal mining was started but proved to be too poor.  Imagine what this country would have been before it was all cultivated with wheat etc!

These pics are for Michele.  :)

1. The road in was mainly good, but tricky in places.  Off the road, carpets of flowers.

There are a few visitor sites in the park, complete with camping area and quite good (typical Aussie) long-drop toilets.

2. Bare dirt where cars go, with beautiful patches right next door.

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Another stopping point.

I didn't see any peregrines, sadly.

Looking left from the lookout.

Looking right from the lookout.  No that's not water at the bottom.
This would have been tough but beautiful country to mine in.

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Just to prove me and my steed were actually here.  Again, dirt road next to carpets of flowers.

At this point I was supposed to keep riding through the reserve and make a turn to get me to Depot Hill.  Boy am I lousy at following directions.
I ended up at...

Mullewa

This is a tiny town that's seen better days (like most small towns in Australia).  Lots of closed shops and buildings. The signs generally use plough discs for their wildflower representation, in colour.  Here they go one bigger.

Very expensive petrol in town, and I needed some. My GPS showed a truck stop on its fuel page, a few k's out of town.  So I rode out there, to find... nothing.  (Well, a windsock on a fence and a sign about something else.)  My stupid Garmin GPS really bugs me sometimes.  It also refuses to find local roads in its search field, even though when I ride to them, it knows their name.  I feel like sending a rocket to Garmin, but like most big companies, they don't really want to hear from their customers.  You'd never think I bought the best motorbike GPS I could find, a couple of years ago. Sigh.

While cruising round town, I stumbled across a building I just had to take some photos of.  It has the most kitsch in it I've ever seen in a church (though I don't go into too many).

There is enough 'stuff' around this church to keep anyone interested while down on their knees communing with someone/something.  It was incredible.  The sides and back were equally endowed.

I went into the information centre to ask how best to get to Depot Hill.  The guy was a bit bemused when I told him I'd just been to Coalseam, which is quite close to it.  I pointed out that getting lost on a fine day on a motorbike, is not a bad thing.  Lunch was a roll and coffee next door, in a crafts and food joint.  They started out just crafts, and found people wanted coffee, then food.  So they added some facilities.  Got a ways to go, but they'll get there.  Not much else in the town, I didn't want a pub meal.

Butterabby Graves

The discs look muted here, because the sun was behind them.

I thought this would be a bit more, but I guess it has great significance for the people who were affected by the events represented.

I presume this is one of the graves.  There were a couple like this.  Out in the middle of nowhere, covered with a spread of flowers.  Not a bad place to have one's remains (until all us tourists showed up).

Along the main road I saw lots of large banksia trees.  But no colour in them.

Depot Hill Reserve

These discs were in the sun.  :)

This was a training range for riflemen and tanks.  Precious little is left from those days.  The only intrusion I could see was walking tracks and seats.

These metal sculptures are common in the parks, representing past activity.

You'd never think there would be colour among this lot.

10. But there sure was.

 

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Droning in Depot Hill

I tried my drone at a couple of spots.  The few tourists who noticed, weren't bothered, once i explained what the noise of bees was all about.  (Sounds like a swarm in flight.)  But it was a disappointment.  From above, the flowers were just pinpricks of colour.   I need to have another go over a swathe of everlastings.  Kalbarri, maybe.

First some overhead shots showing how bleak it looks from a distance.

Now closer to some flowers.

Zoom in a bit

17. Now an oblique view -which I can just do on the ground from my phone.

Conclusion:  For small flowers, a close-up view is best.  Especially when there are tracts of bare dirt around them.  Overhead just doesn't work.

Home again

I tootled round Geraldton on my way back.  Though down at heel in places, it has some very nice beaches and playground areas along its shores.
The Mercantile Club I tried for tea (suggested by fellow residents) turned out to be not doing meals tonight.  On a Saturday night!  It is definitely struggling.
The wine bar across the road was full of noisy young folk. I stood at the bar for a while and got sick of waiting.  Wandered off to the other Thai restaurant in the street.  Asking for Tom Ka Gai with seafood instead of chicken, proved too difficult, as I discovered when my soup only had a few bits of chicken in it (and mushrooms, to which I added rice).  Again I got caught out by the BYO-only status.  Thinking about it afterwards, my bill was a couple of bucks high.  So far, not too impressed with the eateries I've tried here.
Ended up in the digs lounge area with a teacup of my port.  Pippa the owner came by for a chat.  I was so stuffed that I left the blog for next day.  So I'm doing this when I should be out sightseeing.  Right.  Off I go.